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Topic: Tidal vs Apple Music vs Deezer (Read 600 times)

I am interested in hearing you opinions on the different options. I have the apple music running on my iPhone and iPad but was wondering if anyone has experience in using Apple Music vs Tidal. Apple Music is about half the subscription per month as compared to Tidal. I believe Deezer is the same cost as Tidal.

Personally I was leaning towards Tidal for no specific reason than some very respected members on the forum are using Tidal.

@ Mars67: Just to clarify what others have alluded to...Tidal was the first streaming service that offered lossless (CD quality) streaming, which is why so many forum members subscribed. Deezer has now also started offering the same and afaik Spotify plans to do the same. You obviously require sufficient data/speed, plus you need to establish whether your set-up is compatible, or what you would need to be able to stream from said service providers.

Apple offers iTunes lossy format, which would be more or less on par with Tidal, Deezer and Spotify's equivalent lossy versions.

I've been using Deezer for the last year or so, the mobile app has performed pretty flawless for me , the Windows desktop app has some bugs . I first used Google Music but ended up with Deezer due to them offering the family option first, allowing 5 users and a maximum of 9 devices allowed to save offline content. There are some differences in terms of content such as Apple Music having some songs that aren't on Deezer and vice versa. All of them offer a free trial, Deezer also offers a free plan that has ads.

Tidal was the overall winner until about 2 weeks ago. Now it's a tossup between it and Deezer.

I've always been a Deezer user since I'm with Vodacom and they offer free membership for a few months. Furthermore, the price was competitive once that free membership expired (Tidal was quite pricey). Deezer then launched its lossless service on the same day that Tidal dropped their price so I just stuck it out -- no doubt assisted by Tidal's terribly misguided launch campaign burned in my memory.

There are unique benefits in going with either, however.

Tidal does have a much prettier user interface -- especially on desktop. It would not look out of place on a screen in your AV room. It also has MQA although most DACs don't really have MQA encoding. Their library is also much bigger (although libraries grow by the day so it's hard to quantify) and they've been at lossless for a lot longer. If you like modern music, it's as much a launch platform as it is a streaming service, offering exclusive new albums and access to video content that you won't find anywhere other than illegal download sites.

Deezer's UI isn't nearly as sleek as Tidal's and their desktop app (needed for lossless) is in beta. Of course, you won't find much in the way of exclusive content as they're only breaking ground in video now and they're fairly independent. They weren't created by Jay-Z, so they cover a wider variety of esoteric genres & artists as there's no label/friend bias. Deezer also has by far the most local music of any service.

On a more personal note, I find Tidal's lossless service to be a misnomer. An exclusive, well-encoded, CD-quality turd is still a turd. And the exclusive songs and artists so prominently featured are mostly produced compressed anyway. Dynamic range is far more important than a coding standard when it comes to audiphile grade music, and with a few notable exceptions, Tidal's majority offering has no dynamic range whatsoever. I honestly have no idea why they even went the lossless route.

For local music, real music, and because I prefer Nas to Jay-Z anyway, I'm happy to stick it out with Deezer.

^^^ when you drop them let them know lack of Roon integration is your primary reason. Streaming services are very reluctant to integrate with something like Roon because they fear it makes them indistinguishable from the next. Like their UIís are differentiators

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Audiophile: There is almost no other group that prides themselves more on wasting good money on utterly worthless ****, and then trying to furiously blow smoke up their own ass to justify it.

^^^ when you drop them let them know lack of Roon integration is your primary reason. Streaming services are very reluctant to integrate with something like Roon because they fear it makes them indistinguishable from the next. Like their UIís are differentiators

Done! - Could care less about their UI.

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Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. Plato